2

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XI.

1689 .

Rejoi-cingsthrough-out Eng-land.

Rejoi-cings inHolland.

•were among them some who might be pardoned if a vindictivefeeling mingled with their joy. The most deeply injured of allwho had survived the evil times was absent. Lady Russell,while her friends were crowding the galleries of Whitehall,remained in her retreat, thinking of one who, if he had beenstill living, would have held no undistinguished place in theceremonies of that great day. But her daughter, who had a fewmonths before become the wife of Lord Cavendish, was presentedto the royal pair by his mother the Countess of Devonshire.A letter is still extant in which the young lady described withgreat vivacity the roar of the populace, the blaze in the streets,the throng in the presence chamber, the beauty of Mary, andthe expression which ennobled and softened the harsh featuresof William. But the most interesting passage is that in whichthe orphan girl avowed the stern delight with which she hadwitnessed the tardy punishment of her father’s murderer. *

The example of London was followed by the provincial towns.During three weeks the Gazettes were filled with accounts of thesolemnities by which the public joy manifested itself, cavalcadesof gentlemen and yeomen, processions of Sheriffs and Bailiffs inscarlet gowns, musters of zealous Protestants with orange flagsand ribands, salutes,bonfires, illuminations, music, balls, dinners,gutters running with ale and conduits spouting claret.**

Still more cordial was the rejoicing among the Dutch, whenthey learned that the first minister of their Commonwealth had

* Letter from Lftdy Cavendish to Sylvia. Lady Cavendish, like mostof the clever girls of that generation, had Scudery’s romances always inher head. She is Dorinda: her correspondent, supposed to he her cousinJane Allington, is Sylvia: William is Ormanzor, and Mary Phenixana.London Gazette, Feb. 14. 168§-; Narcissus Luttrell’s Diary. Luttrell’s Diary,which I shall very often quote, is in the library of All Souls’ College. I amgreatly obliged to the Warden for the kindness with which he allowed meaccess to this valuable manuscript.

** See the London Gazettes of February and March 168|, and NarcissusLuttrell’s Diary.